Article by
Colville Mounsey

Published on
June 26, 2018

The number of female admissions at Her Majesty’s Prison in Dodds, St Philip is trending upwards while the number of new male offenders at the correctional facility is declining, according to the just released findings of the latest prison report.

According to the 2016 annual report from the penal facility, female admissions climbed by 36.5 per cent while male admissions dropped by 7.7 per cent.

Despite the increase, however, the number of female prisoners, which stood at 86, trailed male admissions by a long way, with male inmates totalling 1,043.

Only 13 per cent of convicted females were serving sentences of five years or more while 42 per cent of convicted males were facing lengthy sentences.

The report showed that the majority of females were serving sentences for drug possession. However, the majority of females on remand were charged with more serious offences, including firearm possession, wounding, theft, murder and sexual assault.

During the period under review, 422 males and 28 females were released from prison, with the correctional facility registering a 13.3 per cent reduction in repeat offenders.

First-time offenders fell from 189 in 2015 to 164 in 2016, the number of people incacerated also fell from 927 to 913 inmates.

Since 2014, Barbados’ incarceration rate has declined from 328 per 100,000 people to 322 per 100, 000, even though it still represented one of the highest incarceration rates in the region, placing behind only Jamaica, the Dominican Republic and Trinidad and Tobago.

The number of non-nationals incarcerated during that period fell from 131 to 126, with 43 coming from Guyana – a decrease by five – and 36 from Jamaica.

The majority of non-nationals were charged with the importation and possession of illegal drugs.

Meanwhile, prison authorities are reporting a more efficient system, saving taxpayers $1,139,424 annually in maintenance costs, and the daily maintenance cost of a single inmate has dropped from $85.68 to $83.08

“It is internationally acknowledged that incarceration is an expensive exercise and as a consequence, the Barbados Prison Service seeks to establish value for money in its operation and performance,” the report said, explaining that it cost approximately $31,271.72 per annum to keep an offender in safe custody.

However, in 2016, it costs approximately $30,323.07 per annum to keep an offender in custody, the report stated, while noting that the figure did not take into account any additional expenses occasioned by services provided by the psychiatric and Queen Elizabeth Hospital, as well as the visits to the various polyclinics or private doctors.

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8 thoughts on “Female prisoners on the rise”

Female prisoners on the rise, is also because it seems as if some women want to assume the roles of men and vice versa. There was a time when women had a lot more respect for themselves, and would not even date a former criminal, far less get themselves involved in criminnal activities. Some men have lost their balls; more women now indicating their balls.

i am looking forward to this BLP government letting a psychological approach be initiated when dealing with crime e.g. Elliot Belgrave under the DLP administration as a high court judge sent a friend of mine to prison for 5 yrs, the charge was for fraud he fraud the bank to get enough money to support his cocaine addiction, ( he was introduced to crack cocaine which is very addictive by a sexy young woman named Anne Marie he had no idea what he was getting into, if a psychological evaluation was done on him instead of Elliot Belgrave telling him yo think you smart, I am going to send a signal to the society, he could realize that this young man was NOT a criminal bot a victim to drug addiction, & Verdon would be the best place for his problem ( people like Elliot Belgrave black & holding positions that were once held by whites always punish severely other blacks its deeply psychological(

i hope the minister of Education,the Hon santia Bradshaw being the bright woman she is, & modern in her thinking, will suggest that we need teachers to be trained in child psychology, ( being educated is NOT enough,) they need to understand human behaviour, & the complexities that go with young children growing up. in the developed countries of the world, psychology is a must in your( Modus Operandi),& we as a developing country
have to realize that without it we are going nowhere, the way you speak, the way you dress, how you see yourself, your goals in life your ability to achieve what you want, all has to do with a psychological approach. (enough for now.)

Because I may disagree with you on your views of sexuality it does not give me the right to demean you, to demoralize you, to defame you, to turn you into a demon. It’s not against the law for you to love anybody, man or woman. It’s not criminal and it shouldn’t be..

@Johnny Crow,” Some men have lost their balls.” Not just some, lots of them have. @Greg Norville, you’re onto something, unfortunately there are too many blithering idiots in position of authority in Barbados.

And more women r going to jail too. Anything without a head is basically dead, i a nutshell. Now when did we lose our head, (the man) since slavery to start, then those colonial systems nailed the coffin shut. We lost our heads to drugs, crime, murder, disease, their history, white women, other races philosophies etc. Indeed a thorough job has been done on both the black woman and man. Both r lost. Now where would one start if they r lost. The black man needs to pull his pants up, and put his belt on and take back the reins of control. The black woman needs to put some clothes on for starters. The woman came out of man, and not the other way around.